440 research outputs found
Many-body interactions and melting of colloidal crystals
We study the melting behavior of charged colloidal crystals, using a
simulation technique that combines a continuous mean-field Poisson-Boltzmann
description for the microscopic electrolyte ions with a Brownian-dynamics
simulation for the mesoscopic colloids. This technique ensures that many-body
interactions between the colloids are fully taken into account, and thus allows
us to investigate how many-body interactions affect the solid-liquid phase
behavior of charged colloids. Using the Lindemann criterion, we determine the
melting line in a phase-diagram spanned by the colloidal charge and the salt
concentration. We compare our results to predictions based on the established
description of colloidal suspensions in terms of pairwise additive Yukawa
potentials, and find good agreement at high-salt, but not at low-salt
concentration. Analyzing the effective pair-interaction between two colloids in
a crystalline environment, we demonstrate that the difference in the melting
behavior observed at low salt is due to many-body interactions
Effect of many-body interactions on the solid-liquid phase-behavior of charge-stabilized colloidal suspensions
The solid-liquid phase-diagram of charge-stabilized colloidal suspensions is
calculated using a technique that combines a continuous Poisson-Boltzmann
description for the microscopic electrolyte ions with a molecular-dynamics
simulation for the macroionic colloidal spheres. While correlations between the
microions are neglected in this approach, many-body interactions between the
colloids are fully included. The solid-liquid transition is determined at a
high colloid volume fraction where many-body interactions are expected to be
strong. With a view to the Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek theory predicting
that colloids interact via Yukawa pair-potentials, we compare our results with
the phase diagram of a simple Yukawa liquid. Good agreement is found at high
salt conditions, while at low ionic strength considerable deviations are
observed. By calculating effective colloid-colloid pair-interactions it is
demonstrated that these differences are due to many-body interactions. We
suggest a density-dependent pair-potential in the form of a truncated Yukawa
potential, and show that it offers a considerably improved description of the
solid-liquid phase-behavior of concentrated colloidal suspensions
Mean Field Fluid Behavior of the Gaussian Core Model
We show that the Gaussian core model of particles interacting via a
penetrable repulsive Gaussian potential, first considered by Stillinger (J.
Chem. Phys. 65, 3968 (1976)), behaves like a weakly correlated ``mean field
fluid'' over a surprisingly wide density and temperature range. In the bulk the
structure of the fluid phase is accurately described by the random phase
approximation for the direct correlation function, and by the more
sophisticated HNC integral equation. The resulting pressure deviates very
little from a simple, mean-field like, quadratic form in the density, while the
low density virial expansion turns out to have an extremely small radius of
convergence. Density profiles near a hard wall are also very accurately
described by the corresponding mean-field free-energy functional. The binary
version of the model exhibits a spinodal instability against de-mixing at high
densities. Possible implications for semi-dilute polymer solutions are
discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 2 columns, ReVTeX epsfig,multicol,amssym, 15 figures;
submitted to Phys. Rev. E (change: important reference added
Interaction between macroions mediated by divalent rod-like ions
Attractive interactions between identical like-charged macroions
in aqueous multivalent salt solution arise due to ion-ion
correlations. The mean-field level Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) theory
does not predict such behavior for point-like structureless ions.
Various multivalent ions, such as certain DNA condensing agents
or short stiff polyelectrolytes, do have an internal, often
rod-like, structure. Applying PB theory to the
generic case of divalent rod-like salt ions, we find attraction
between like-charged macroions above a critical distance between
the two individual charges of the rod-like ions. We calculate
this distance analytically within linearized PB theory.
Numerical results for the non-linear PB theory indicate strong
enhancement of the tendency to mediate attractive interactions
Calculation of droplet deformation at intermediate Reynolds number using a Volume of Fluid technique
The deformation of a droplet or bubble in simple extensional flow fields is investigated at intermediate Reynolds number using a Volume-of-Fluid (VOF) numerical algorithm (MAC2) developed by Rudman. The results of an evaluation study of the MAC2 algorithm for such flows are presented. The final steady shapes of droplets in axisymmetric extensional flow fields determined by MAC2 are compared with the published numerical results of Ramaswamy and Leal. This work forms the initial stage of a more comprehensive study of droplet deformation in time-dependent shear fields experienced by drops flowing through devices (e.g.\ homogenisers) designed for droplet breakup
Poisson -- Boltzmann Brownian Dynamics of Charged Colloids in Suspension
We describe a method to simulate the dynamics of charged colloidal particles
suspended in a liquid containing dissociated ions and salt ions. Regimes of
prime current interest are those of large volume fraction of colloids, highly
charged particles and low salt concentrations. A description which is tractable
under these conditions is obtained by treating the small dissociated and salt
ions as continuous fields, while keeping the colloidal macroions as discrete
particles. For each spatial configuration of the macroions, the electrostatic
potential arising from all charges in the system is determined by solving the
nonlinear Poisson--Boltzmann equation. From the electrostatic potential, the
forces acting on the macroions are calculated and used in a Brownian dynamics
simulation to obtain the motion of the latter. The method is validated by
comparison to known results in a parameter regime where the effective
interaction between the macroions is of a pairwise Yukawa form
Opioid peptides encrypted in intact milk protein sequences
peer-reviewedOpioid agonistic and antagonistic peptides which are inactive within the sequence of the
precursor milk proteins can be released and thus activated by enzymatic proteolysis, for example during gastrointestinal digestion or during food processing. Activated opioid peptides are potential modulators of various regulatory processes in the body. Opioid peptides can interact with subepithelial opioid receptors or specific luminal binding sites in the intestinal tract. Furthermore, they may be absorbed and then reach endogenous opioid receptors
Public Health Response to Imported Case of Poliomyelitis, Australia, 2007
Inactivated polio vaccine was offered, and the index case-patient and household contacts were quarantined
Hydration interactions: aqueous solvent effects in electric double layers
A model for ionic solutions with an attractive short-range pair interaction
between the ions is presented. The short-range interaction is accounted for by
adding a quadratic non-local term to the Poisson-Boltzmann free energy. The
model is used to study solvent effects in a planar electric double layer. The
counter-ion density is found to increase near the charged surface, as compared
with the Poisson-Boltzmann theory, and to decrease at larger distances. The ion
density profile is studied analytically in the case where the ion distribution
near the plate is dominated only by counter-ions. Further away from the plate
the density distribution can be described using a Poisson-Boltzmann theory with
an effective surface charge that is smaller than the actual one.Comment: 11 Figures in 13 files + LaTex file. 20 pages. Accepted to Phys. Rev.
E. Corrected typos and reference
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